Start A Blog in 3 Easy Steps

First off, I’m so excited for you! You’re joining this crazy blogging life. Congrats and buckle up because you’re in for a ride! You’ve probably been battling back and forth with yourself on whether or not to start this but clearly, you’ve made the right choice because you’re here! Now, let me help you start a blog!

I honestly wish you all of the success in the world with your new endeavor. It’s an incredible way to stay creative, which as a mom, is hard to find time to do. You’ll quickly find that you’re not alone, there are so much of us out here and we all have your back.

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase after following an ad this blog will receive a commission, at no extra cost to you! Things like this keep Wine and Mommy Time up and running.

Obviously writing is a big part of starting a blog, but before you can publish anything, you need a home!

I’ll help you through the three main steps to set up your new business. Whether you are coming into this with the intention of making some cash, or to just have a hobby, we all start with the same three steps.

Other posts you’ll find helpful:

1. Choose a Hosting Company

What’s a host? A host is like where your blog will live. Everyone needs somewhere to live, including your blog! It’s the physical location as to where the world can find you. Think of it as your street address.

My suggestion, Bluehost. Why? For over 10 years, they’ve been the most recommended host for WordPress bloggers. Which is why they should be your only choice. They have 24/7 tech support, which is exactly what you want. Along with a 30-day money back guarantee. You can’t shake a stick at that.

Another great perk? One-click WordPress install. Yep. One click. That tells you how hand in hand they are with the world’s best blogging platform.

Check to see below if the name you have in mind is available!

Is it available? If yes, secure it now before someone else does!

When you go to the Bluehost homepage and click on the “get started now button” you’ll come to this next page:

Now you can choose the plan that fits your needs. Bluehost will do the legwork if you need to transfer a domain name as well! You’ll get these two options if you’ve purchased your domain name somewhere like GoDaddy.

You get a decent list to choose from as well. Have you ever noticed how some blogs are .com and others are .net or something else? Well, that could be because when they went to register, .com wasn’t available, or another domain name suited their brand better. For instance, .co is becoming very popular in the blogging community.

What are the options you have to choose from?

.com

.co

.club

.tech

.space

.online

.info

.us

.name

.biz

.org

.website

.org

.site

Got your name? Awesome! Now you fill out the basic account info and choose any add-on’s that you’d like. Fill out your payment information – the scariest part of all because you’re so close!

Now take a deep breath. And press submit.

Congratulations! You’re the proud mommy of a beautiful, newborn domain. All shiny and new!

Other posts you may find helpful:

2. WordPress Installation

I know, it sounds difficult and scary. But I promise. It’s really not! Just like when you just clicked submit. You only have one click to do here.

Go to cPanel, find a section that’s called “MOJO Marketplace”, then choose “One-Click Installs,”. Then you get to click the handy-dandy WordPress icon that’s in the blog section.

Now that you’ve clicked the “install” button, your installation preferences will show up on a new page.

Decide where you want to install WordPress. For this, you select which domain you want to use WordPress on.

Advanced Options. Here you will set up your username and password. Essentially, they are your login properties. The biggest point here is to be sure that the “automatically create a new database for this installation” box is ticked. If you have another database, then that’s your choice, but I’m assuming you don’t.

Confirm that you’ve read the terms and conditions.

3. Time to choose a theme

Login to your new blog through WordPress. Going forward, anytime you’re working on your blog, you’ll go to www.YourNewbornBloggyBlogName.com/wp-admin. It should go without saying that YourNewbornBloggyBlogName is where you’ll actually put the name of the domain you bought. Enter your username and password and away we go!

On your first log in, you’ll come home to a very basic, in every sense of the word, blog. Change that. Keep in mind, no theme is set in stone. You can change it up as much as you want, whenever you want. There are tons of free ones to choose from.

If you want one really pretty and feminine and would like to purchase one down the road, or now, I suggest Pretty Darn Cute Designs. They have the best girly themes ever. Seriously.

Things you should look for in a theme:

A font that is easy to read. Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, or Courier are good options.

It must be mobile compatible, most are. Check anyway though.

Choose one that is customizable to your needs so you can really make it your own.

If you are buying a theme, make sure that it’s one that will update automatically with WordPress.

That’s it! Well not totally. Now you need to start writing. So start generating some amazing content. One day, I hope you will be writing a how-to like this one to inspire other soon-to-be bloggers to make the leap like you did.

Did this article help you start a blog? I’d love to see it! Leave your link below. Hello, free advertising.

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